If Obama's mom tried to get medical marijuana for her cancer today, her son would imprison the co-op that provided it to her.

On Friday, October 7, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, along with the four US Attorneys from California, announced plans for a coordinated effort against operations in California that provide safe access to marijuana for those patients qualified to use it in accordance with state law.

These actions are incompatible with the Administration’s pledge to respect the decisions of voters and lawmakers in states that recognize the medical efficacy of marijuana. They will result in limiting patients’ regulated access to medicine and they will also cost California necessary jobs and needed tax revenue.

Legislating medical marijuana operations and prosecuting those who act in a manner that is inconsistent with California law and voters’ sentiment should be a responsibility left up to the individual states, not the federal government. It is time for this administration to fulfill the promises and assurances it gave to the medical marijuana community, not to reject them. Please contact the White House and urge President Obama to abandon the administration’s escalating war on cannabis consumers.

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Tell The Obama Administration to Halt Its Attack on Medical Marijuana

1) Failed to reduce the public’s demand for or access to cannabis.

2) Imposed enormous fiscal and human costs upon the American people.

3) Promoted disrespect for the law.

4) Reinforced ethnic and generational divides between the public and law enforcement.

After seven decades of failure, it is time for an alternative approach. Use the form below to contact your elected officals and encourage them to stand up for state’s rights and personal freedoms by co-sponsoring HR 2306: The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011.

The rest is here:
Tell Your Representatives to Co-Sponsor HR 2306: The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011

LD 1296 seeks to protect the privacy of qualified medical cannabis patients by eliminating the 2010 mandate that citizens must be registered with the state in order to receive legal protection under state law. The measure also seeks to expand the number of qualifying conditions eligible for medical marijuana, and increases the amount of cannabis that patients may legally possess under a doctor’s supervision. LD 1296 also limits the ability of law enforcement to seize cannabis from lawful patients, and mandates for the return of any seized property within seven days.

Full text of LD 1296 is available online here.

You can track the status of this measure here.

Republican Gov. Paul LePage is expected to sign the bill,according to news reports.

Once signed, Maine will be one of the only states that provides full legal protections to medical marijuana patients without requiring them to register with the state.

You can urge Gov. LePage to support this legislation here.

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Maine Lawmakers Approve Medical Marijuana Patient Privacy Act

These resolutions require no further committee action, but both must receive full floor votes. If approved, they would not require the governor’s signature and cannot be vetoed. This is why it is imperative that you contact your elected officals and tell them to stand with New Jersey’s patients and call for a floor vote on these resolutions.

In January, State Sen. Nicholas Scutari led a public hearing before the Senate Health Committee to discuss voiding draft rules by the Department of Health and Senior Services that sought to unduly restrict the implementation of the Medical Marijuana Act. You can read NORML’s critique of the draft regulations here. You can also watch video from the hearings here.

Lawmakers, patients, and reform activists take issue with several aspects of the regulations, which they argue violated the intent of New Jersey’s yet-to-be implemented medical marijuana law. These included provisions:

• requiring qualifying patients to establish that their diagnosed condition has proven resistant to all other conventional therapies;
• capping the number of state-licensed medical cannabis producers to no more than two;
• restricting the varieties of marijuana available to patients to six strains, and capping the plant’s THC content at ten percent;
• prohibiting the dissemination of any edible medical cannabis product;
• mandating that doctors who authorize their patients to use marijuana must “make reasonable efforts” at least every three months to wean them off the drug.

You can urge your member of the House and Senate to support these resolutions by entering your zip code below.

For more information contact NORML New Jersey or the Coalition for Medical Marijuana – New Jersey or write to:media@cmmnj.org.

Read this article:
Concurrent Resolutions Introduced in NJ Legislature to Invalidate Restrictive Medical Marijuana Rules

House Bill 1983, the States’ Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, would ensure that medical cannabis patients in states that have approved its use will no longer have to fear arrest or prosecution from federal law enforcement agencies. It states, “No provision of the Controlled Substances Act shall prohibit or otherwise restrict in a State in which marijuana may be prescribed or recommended by a physician for medical use under applicable State law.”

The measure also calls for an expedited rescheduling review by the federal government that would reclassify cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the federal Controlled Substances Act, recognizing the plant’s accepted medical use and streamlining the federal approval process for medical marijuana research.

Sixteen states — Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington — and the District of Columbia have enacted laws protecting medical marijuana patients from state prosecution. Yet in all of these states, patients and providers still face the risk of federal sanction — even when their actions are fully compliant with state law. In fact, in recent months federal officials have stepped up their threats against state recognized patients and providers, stating, “The United States Attorneys Office … will vigorously prosecute individuals and organizations that participate in … activity involving marijuana, even if such activities are permitted under state law.”

It is time that we allowed our unique federalist system to work the way it was intended. Patients and their state representatives should have the authority to enact laws permitting the medical use of cannabis — free from federal interference.

Please write your members of Congress today and tell them to stop targeting and prosecuting medical marijuana patients and providers. For your convenience, a prewritten letter will be e-mailed to your member of Congress when you enter your contact information below.

Thank you for assisting NORML’s federal law reform efforts.

Continued here:
Support the ‘States’ Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act’

Note to American cops: This is NOT how you harvest bud for smoking.

Texas Republican Ron Paul and a coalition of 25 co-sponsors are once again seeking to allow for the commercial farming of industrial hemp.

House Bill 1831, The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011, would exclude low potency varieties of marijuana from federal prohibition. If approved, this measure will grant state legislatures the authority to license and regulate the commercial production of hemp as an industrial and agricultural commodity.

Several states — including North Dakota, Montana, and Vermont– have enacted regulations to allow for the cultivation of hemp under state law. However, none of these laws can be implemented without federal approval. Passage of HR 1831 would remove existing federal barriers and allow states that wish to regulate commercial hemp production the authority to do so.

“We are pleased to see the re-introduction of the Industrial Hemp Farming Act in Congress. Vote Hemp is currently working with a Democratic Senator who is preparing to introduce companion legislation in the Senate in support of industrial hemp farming,” says Vote Hemp President, Eric Steenstra. “It is due time for the Senate as well as President Obama and the Attorney General to prioritize the crop’s benefits to farmers and to take action like Rep. Paul and the cosponsors of H.R. 1831 have done. With the U.S. hemp industry valued at over $400 million in annual retail sales and growing, a change in federal policy to allow hemp farming would mean instant job creation, among many other economic and environmental benefits,” adds Steenstra.

According to a 2005 Congressional Resource Service report, the United States is the only developed nation that fails to cultivate industrial hemp as an economic crop. As a result, U.S. companies that specialize in hempen goods — such as Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, Patagonia, Nature’s Path, and Nutiva — have no choice but to import hemp material. These added production costs are then passed on to the consumer who must pay artificially high retail prices for hemp products.

Previous versions of The Industrial Hemp Farming Act were introduced, but failed to receive a public hearing or a committee vote. Please write your members of Congress today and tell them to end the federal prohibition of industrial hemp production. For your convenience, a prewritten letter will be e-mailed to your member of Congress when you enter your contact information below.

For more information about industrial hemp, please visit:http://www.votehemp.org.

Thank you for assisting NORML’s federal law reform efforts.

Continue reading here:
Support The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011

On Tuesday, May 10, members of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee voted 8 to 3 against the passage of LD 1453, which sought to regulate the commercial production and distribution of marijuana for adults over 21 years of age.

NORML would like to thank those of you who took the time to contact your state elected officials in support of LD 1453, and we fully expect to see a similar version of this legislation reintroduced next year. NORML would also like to thank the primary sponsor of LD 1453, Rep. Diane Russell (D-Portland). You may also contact Rep. Russell and thank her for political leadership on the marijuana law reform issue.

Thank you for your support of sensible marijuana law reform in Maine.

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Maine Lawmakers Reject Bill to Tax and Regulate Marijuana

State Senate and Assembly lawmakers have introduced bi-partisan legislation, Senate Bill 5187 and Assembly Bill 7620, seeking to reduce marijuana penalties and arrest violations involving cases where where marijuana was either consumed or allegedly possessed in public [NY State Penal Law 221.10].

Under present law, non-public possession of up to 25 grams of marijuana is a non-criminal civil citation, punishable by a $100 fine. However, in recent years, police — particularly in New York City — have misused Penal Law 221.10 to arrest defendants who would have otherwise faced no more than a civil citation.

For example, in 2010 New York City law enforcement spent $75 million arresting approximately 50,000 minor marijuana offenders under Penal Law 221.10. Yet according to an April investigation by New York City public radio station WNYC, police routinely conduct warrantless ‘stop-and-frisk’ searches of civilians, find marijuana hidden on their persons, and then falsely charge them with possessing pot ‘open to public view.’

Passage of SB 5187 and AB 7620 will save taxpayer dollars, protect citizens against illegal searches, and reduce unwarranted racial disparities in arrests by clarifying the law and standardizing penalties for marijuana possession offenses.

You can urge your state Senator and member of the Assembly to support these measures by entering your zip code below.

See the article here:
Lawmakers Introduce Bi-Partisan Measures To Reduce Marijuana Penalties In New York

The bill seeks to downgrade cultivation from a mandatory felony to a “wobbler” or alternative misdemeanor. This would permit judges and DA’s to treat minor cultivation cases as misdemeanors, at considerable cost savings to both users and law enforcement. AB 1017 was approved by the Assembly Public Safety Committee by a 4-3 vote on May 3rd, and is now awaiting a vote by the full Assembly.

AB 1017 is endorsed by the District Attorney of Mendocino County, David Eyster, along with other north state DA’s, but is opposed by California’s mainstream narcotics enforcement establishment.

California NORML supports AB 1017 because it would help protect small-scale personal use and medical growers from felony punishment.

Please tell your Assembly Member to support AB 1017. Enter your zipcode in the message below.

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Assembly Considers Measure to Decriminalize Cultivation

On Thursday, May 5, House lawmakers voted 99-44 in favor of Senate Bill 17, which allows for the state-sanctioned sale of marijuana to qualified patients. Under the bill, four dispensaries may be established to serve up to 1,000 patients.

House lawmakers overwhelmingly decided to pass the measure despite warnings from the US Department of Justice claiming that the operation of such facilities could place citizens and state officials in conflict with federal law.

However, in response to the DOJ’s actions, lawmakers added a provision to the law giving the governor power to “suspend the implementation” of marijuana dispensaries “if the governor determines that it is in the interest of justice and public safety.”

The Senate approved the House’s changes to SB 17 and the measure now goes to Governor Schumlin’s desk for his signature. The Governor had previously gone on record insupport of the bill.

NORML will continue to inform you of the status of SB 17 as it develops.

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House Clears Way For Passage of Medical Marijuana Distribution Bill